Jonathan Mitchell QC

The Report of the Civil Courts Review

JM — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:12:43 +0000

As anticipated, the report was published this morning at this address. It is in two volumes, available as pdf files; Volume 1 is 375 pages and Volume 2 is 323. There is a nine-page synopsis which is quoted below in its entirety. Comment will follow later.

Forthcoming conference: Environmental Justice, Human Rights, and Environmental Law

JM — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:02:09 +0000

On Monday 2nd November the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law and the Environmental Law Centre Scotland are co-hosting this conference at the Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. I'm speaking on rights to environmental information. The Environmental Information Regulations (there are two sets, UK and Scottish) don't receive a lot of attention in comparison to the general scheme of the two Freedom of Information Acts, but they have a wider ambit, covering some private-sector organisations and companies who aren't covered by general FOI legislation, and in some ways give those seeking information a better process than the Acts. Here's an algorithm of the relationship between the different schemes I did before;

Civil Justice Review

JM — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:52:07 +0000

Invitations to the publication of the Civil Justice Review have just been issued for Wednesday 30 September at 11am in the Signet Library. I'm told the Review will be published electronically at that time; address unknown but perhaps here.

Today’s problems in the Sheriff Court

JM — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:06:38 +0000

This morning I turned up at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for a five-day hearing in an unjust enrichment action, with senior counsel also on the other side. There had been lengthy discussions as to possible settlement which had gone nowhere and both sides were fully prepared to fight. Aware of the problems this note describes, the solicitors on both sides had independently phoned the court last week to confirm that the case was allocated to a sheriff, who was named, and that court time was available. When we arrived, however, we were told that the sheriff we had been told was to hear the case was not available; nor was any other sheriff; and there was no chance even of one the next day or later in the week. No sheriff, indeed, had ever been available to hear the case; the one the administration had named to both solicitors had never even been told this, and was in fact hearing an uncompleted proof in another case.

Compassionate release in Scotland: the actual policy and the law

JM — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:18:33 +0000

The Scottish Government today released a fair amount of background documentation on the decision to grant compassionate release to Megrahi. There are still a number of documents which for one reason or another haven't been published, such as the representations made by the US government, for which the US Embassy refused permission. The full text of Scottish Government policy on compassionate release has not however, I think, been made public. Thanks to a correspondent who sent me a copy of this, it is now published on this site. [More]

That letter from the FBI to the Justice Secretary: is it real?

JM — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:06:25 +0000

My last post covered two issues; the hypocrisy of the attack on the decision to release Megrahi, and the law relative to compassionate release of prisoners in Scotland. But in linking these I noted in passing that much of the attack on MacAskill was simply ignorant, and wrote "FBI Director Robert Mueller, in his much-quoted open letter to MacAskill, obviously intended primarily for US domestic consumption, thought the Justice Secretary was a ‘prosecutor‘.". That touched a nerve with one anonymous commenter, who wrote me a poison-pen message in the middle of which he stated: [more]

Megrahi’s release: Kenny MacAskill was right

JM — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:42:23 +0000

If Megrahi was indeed rightly convicted of mass murder, it is not in doubt that he acted on the orders of the Libyan government. He was a senior member of its intelligence service. Yet both the UK and US governments have for some years been on friendly terms with the people who, they say, ordered the desctruction of PanAm 103. They dine with them. They have cocktails with them when they meet at mutual friends. The week before Megrahi's release, as reported in the Washington Post, a delegation of four American senators led by John McCain met with Colonel Gaddafi to discuss the sale by the US to Libya of military equipment. In April, Hilary Clinton welcomed another member of the Gaddafi family, the regime's National Security Adviser to Washington. She said "We deeply value the relationship between the United States and Libya. We have many opportunities to deepen and broaden our cooperation. And I’m very much looking forward to building on this relationship. So, Mr. Minister, welcome so much here. [more]

Forthcoming conference: Changes to the Tribunal System

JM — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:51:19 +0000

I will be speaking on issues relative to the new Upper Tribunal at this conference, organised by the Legal Services Agency, on 14 September. Changes to the Tribunal System: The New Two-Tier System and Its Implications On 3 November 2008 the UK Tribunals Service experienced its most radical change in 50 years when key aspects of the [...]

Forthcoming conferences: Professor Hathaway on asylum law

JM — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:23:39 +0000

Professor James Hathaway of Melbourne University, author of “The Law of Refugee Status”, “The Rights of Refugees under International Law”, and many other leading texts on asylum law; editor of the Refugee Caselaw website; and a world renowned authority on the law of international protection, will be addressing an all-day seminar in Glasgow on Monday [...]

Use of Wikipedia and hyperlinks in Scottish courts

JM — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:39:55 +0000

Gordon v Lynch, 2009 CSOH 116, is a decision of Lord Woolman on quantum in a personal injuries case notable only, so far as this blog is concerned, for its use of a hyperlink: something I have never seen before in a Scottish Courts decision ((When reported on BAILII, of course, hyperlinks are commonly used for citations of earlier authority.)). The third paragraph begins " As a result of the accident, Sean sustained traumatic brain injury.